Soil temperature regime and degree days (°d) at 2–3 cm depth inside and outside cushions.

Measured in 3-hour intervals from 1.9.2009 to 31.8.2010. Values with the lowercase superscript letter indicate situation when there was even an earlier day with Tmean>0 on the beginning of the vegetation season (a - 2.6., b - 28.5., c - 6.5., d - 8.6.); these early days however were often followed by a significant period of days with Tmean<0, that is why a later date is used in the table so that it better represents the beginning of the vegetation season. During the frost-free period no freezing temperatures were recorded, even if mild soil freezing might have occurred.